Focus On: Dr.-Ing. Kurt Woelfl
ODU has built a reputation for very high quality products and great customer service. Customers rate ODU as one of the best connector companies in the world. Impressively, the company places near the top of our customer surveys year after year. ODU is best known for strong engineering that can deliver custom interconnect solutions in the industrial and medical market sectors. It’s a growing and profitable connector company positioned well in these high-margin markets.

Dr. Kurt Woefl is leading this company exceptionally well by continuing to emphasize engineering and new product development during the worse downturn in connector industry history. ODU has become one of the best-run companies in the industry under Dr. Woefl’s leadership. It is a perfect example of how a small company with great engineering can succeed against large, global competitors. As an industry observer, we are very proud this company is part of the connector industry.
                                                                        –-Ronald E. Bishop, Bishop & Associates Inc.

Name: Dr.-Ing. Kurt Woelfl
Company location: Headquarters are in Mühldorf, Germany
Current position: President and CEO of ODU Group
Previous industry positions: In the aerospace and automotive markets, from a young and inexperienced engineer to plant manager.
Accomplishments you’re proud of: Balancing family (wife and three kids) and work, and keeping ODU fundamentally and financially independent and sound, even through the tough times.
First job: Construction work in the California desert.
Favorite website: Yahoo. At one site I can get a quick overview of what is happening around the world.
The last book I read: Sharpe’s Eagle by Bernhard Cornwell. For me, reading is a great way to wind down and separate myself from everything that’s going on.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have: Done pretty much the same.
The best advice anyone ever gave me was: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Great advice, but sometimes not so easy to do.
What trend in the industry is affecting your job and what would you like to do about it? The continued internationalization of manufacturing. Our customers are moving further away from our traditional bases in Europe and the U.S. At ODU, we thrive on servicing our customers, and now we have to be able to do that on a global scale. We are working to solidify and expand our position in Asia and other emerging markets.

And the winner is...
Hu JianHua (Snower Hu), a connector procurement engineer at IBM in Shenzhen, China. Thanks, and congratulations.

Question from ConnectorSupplier.com Volume 6, Issue 5: In what year did the General Conference on Weights and Measures adopt the term hertz (Hz) to replace the previous cycles per second (CPS)? In what country was Hertz born? And, what is he best known for?

Answer: The General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted the term hertz in 1960. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born in Germany, and is best known for his work with electromagnetic waves.

Trivia Question for ConnectorSupplier.com Volume 6, Issue 6: This connector has a strong locking mechanism that can only be released by squeezing the connector body. What is the name of this type of connector, and what companies manufacture it?

Provide us with an interesting trivia question related to the connector world, and if we use it, we’ll send you $50. If you know the answer to this issue’s question, you could also win $50.

Send your answer to trivia@connectorsupplier.com. If there are multiple correct responses, a random winner will be drawn. You must subscribe to be eligible to win. Good luck!